Success of CEE Put Energy Security on the Map, Anita Orban says

Hungary's Ambassador-at-Large for Energy Security Anita Orban, outlined Europe's search for an integrated solution to securing reliable energy supply at the Central European University on Feb. 25, taking attendees through a tumultuous decade of politics and policy.

In an hour-long address to students and experts as part of the Energy Policy Research Group framework supported by the Department for Public Policy, Orban noted the EU's search for a “Fourth Corridor” to supplement existing gas pipeline imports from Norway, North Africa, and Russia.

“It has been the success of Central and Eastern Europe that has put energy security on the map,” Orban said, adding later that this predominantly refers to the reliable supply of natural gas following the supply crises of 2006 and 2009 that had devastating consequences for markets in the region.

A “silver bullet solution” in the form of the aborted Nabucco pipeline project that would have transited Caspian and Middle Eastern gas through Central Europe proved unsuccessful, but flows through its Balkan-oriented rival the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) could succeed in bringing new gas to Hungary and beyond – if the right interconnections are built first.

“Countries in Central and Eastern Europe lack basic infrastructure, markets are pragmatic and countries can't help each other out in times of crisis,” Orban said.

An ambitious program of cross-border pipeline developments are underway linking Poland step by step with the Balkans to better circulate existing supplies through the partly Soviet-built system running in one east-to-west direction from Russia to the high-consuming markets of Western Europe.

Hungary plans projects with Romania and Slovakia to name just two, backed by the EU's attempts to liberalize the compartmentalized markets of Europe and integrate so-called “gas islands” that rely on only a single entry point for gas.

But broader opportunities remain for new gas, not least from across the Atlantic where the U.S. could soon start exporting, Orban said. “The big question is much U.S. gas will be released as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and when?”

Orban outlined Polish plans to build an LNG import terminal at the Baltic port of Swinoujscie to bring new gas to the NSGC and, referencing a report by the Budapest-based Regional Centre for Energy Policy Research (REKK), added that if adequate circulation is in place the price of wholesale gas in Central and Eastern Europe could be harmonized with lower paying countries like Austria and Germany.

Working closely with her counterpart in Prague, Orban has lobbied the U.S. government to allow exports of shippable LNG to Europe following the shale gas revolution that has turned the North American market on its head and the U.S. into the world's largest gas producer.

With first gas from Azerbaijan via the TAP project not scheduled to reach the EU until 2019, and a shale gas revolution in Europe looking increasingly unlikely, short-term security is coming in the form of the increasingly active European Commission, Orban explained.

It was at EU meetings that the “emblematic” Southern Gas Corridor scheme was launched in 2008/2009 and the NSGC soon after.

Orban spoke at length of the work being done in Brussels, and during the time that different EU countries hold the EU presidency, to speak with a single voice when negotiating with external suppliers – not least Russia's Gazprom on which most countries in Central Europe are heavily dependent.

“The North-South Gas Corridor can be the backbone of the integrated energy market [and] that can be a remarkable development,” Orban said.

- See more at: http://www.ceu.hu/article/2014-02-27/success-cee-has-put-energy-security-map#sthash.DJYwuSAt.dpuf

In an hour-long address to students and experts as part of the Energy Policy Research Group framework supported by the Department for Public Policy, Orban noted the EU's search for a “Fourth Corridor” to supplement existing gas pipeline imports from Norway, North Africa, and Russia.

“It has been the success of Central and Eastern Europe that has put energy security on the map,” Orban said, adding later that this predominantly refers to the reliable supply of natural gas following the supply crises of 2006 and 2009 that had devastating consequences for markets in the region.

A “silver bullet solution” in the form of the aborted Nabucco pipeline project that would have transited Caspian and Middle Eastern gas through Central Europe proved unsuccessful, but flows through its Balkan-oriented rival the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) could succeed in bringing new gas to Hungary and beyond – if the right interconnections are built first.

“Countries in Central and Eastern Europe lack basic infrastructure, markets are pragmatic and countries can't help each other out in times of crisis,” Orban said.

An ambitious program of cross-border pipeline developments are underway linking Poland step by step with the Balkans to better circulate existing supplies through the partly Soviet-built system running in one east-to-west direction from Russia to the high-consuming markets of Western Europe.

Hungary plans projects with Romania and Slovakia to name just two, backed by the EU's attempts to liberalize the compartmentalized markets of Europe and integrate so-called “gas islands” that rely on only a single entry point for gas.

But broader opportunities remain for new gas, not least from across the Atlantic where the U.S. could soon start exporting, Orban said. “The big question is much U.S. gas will be released as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and when?”

Orban outlined Polish plans to build an LNG import terminal at the Baltic port of Swinoujscie to bring new gas to the NSGC and, referencing a report by the Budapest-based Regional Centre for Energy Policy Research (REKK), added that if adequate circulation is in place the price of wholesale gas in Central and Eastern Europe could be harmonized with lower paying countries like Austria and Germany.

Working closely with her counterpart in Prague, Orban has lobbied the U.S. government to allow exports of shippable LNG to Europe following the shale gas revolution that has turned the North American market on its head and the U.S. into the world's largest gas producer.

With first gas from Azerbaijan via the TAP project not scheduled to reach the EU until 2019, and a shale gas revolution in Europe looking increasingly unlikely, short-term security is coming in the form of the increasingly active European Commission, Orban explained.

It was at EU meetings that the “emblematic” Southern Gas Corridor scheme was launched in 2008/2009 and the NSGC soon after.

Orban spoke at length of the work being done in Brussels, and during the time that different EU countries hold the EU presidency, to speak with a single voice when negotiating with external suppliers – not least Russia's Gazprom on which most countries in Central Europe are heavily dependent.

“The North-South Gas Corridor can be the backbone of the integrated energy market [and] that can be a remarkable development,” Orban said.